Ivan Sokolov

Sac ri fice and Ini tia tive in ChessSeize the Mo ment to Get the Ad van tage

New In Chess 2013

Con tents

Pref ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Part I Ini tia tive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chap ter 1Ig nor ing the Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chap ter 2Keep ing the Mo men tum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chap ter 3Stan dard At tack ing Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chap ter 4Pawn Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chap ter 5Sens ing the Mo ment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chap ter 6De vel op ing the At tack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Chap ter 7The Fight for the Ini tia tive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Part II Sac ri fice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Chap ter 8The King Chase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Chap ter 9The Cas tled King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Chap ter 10The De coy Sac ri fice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

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The Stra te gic Nimzo-In dian

Chap ter 11King in the Cen tre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Chap ter 12The Sac ri fice for De vel op ment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Chap ter 13Clear ance Sac ri fices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Chap ter 14Pawn Struc ture Sac ri fices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Chap ter 15Un ex pected Sac ri fic ing Mo tifs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Chap ter 16In tu itive Sac ri fices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Con clu sion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Bib li og ra phy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

In dex of Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Sac ri f ice and Ini t ia t ive in Chess

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Preface

‘Sac ri fice and Initiative’ is a book I have wanted towrite for a long time.

Though these are the two most im por tant as pectsof dy namic play, they have been largely ig nored bychess au thors and pub lish ing houses and we stillhave very lit tle work pub lished on the sub ject.

Yes, we do have plenty of books deal ing with tac -ti cal train ing, tac ti cal mo tifs, com bi na tions... butthose are ac tu ally ‘shame sac ri fices’, mean ing thataf ter a forced se quence of moves, the sac ri fic ing sidegets his ma te rial in vest ment back with in ter est.

On the sub ject of the ‘true sac ri fice’, where thesac ri fic ing side takes off on a jour ney, on a slip peryroad with no guar an tees, still very lit tle work has been pub lished, and we of tenhave to go as far back as Rudolf Spielmann or Vladi mir Vukovic to find a good,struc tured work.

My work has taken me a long time.To reach a fi nal de ci sion on the se lec tion of the games, I played through al most

1,000 games, from the old mas ters to the mod ern glad i a tors, in or der to se lect 200games for a ‘work da ta base’. And out of this work da ta base even tu ally came my fi -nal se lec tion.

The reader will quickly no tice that the great ma jor ity of games are from the Talpe riod on wards – the ‘old mas ters’ are barely pres ent. There is a rea son for this.When I played through and ana lysed the old mas ters’ games, it quickly be came ob -vi ous that in the old days, the de fend ers sim ply did not de fend well, so the at tackerwas usu ally not put to the ul ti mate test to jus tify his ma te rial in vest ments.

Af ter se lect ing the games, I had to clas sify them in a struc ture of at tack ing themes.First I made a sep a ra tion be tween an ‘Ini tia tive’ and a ‘Sac ri fice’ part, and then a

fur ther di vi sion into sep a rate at tack ing themes. But the reader has to un der standthat all those themes – well, 90% of them any how – are in ter wo ven! It is very rarethat a ‘true sac ri fice’ game is won by us ing only one sin gle mo tif. Usu ally a com bi -na tion of at least two dif fer ent at tack ing themes is needed in or der to win in an attack in tro duced by a ‘true sac ri fice’.

For the theme se lec tion and the book struc ture I have tried to com bine com monknowl edge (since the days of Spielmann’s book ‘The Art of Sac ri fice in Chess’, inGer man Richtig opfern!) with mod ern prac tice and find a bal ance be tween the two.

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SSEH

C NI

WEN

Be fore ev ery chap ter, the reader can find ex pla na tions of the theme at hand. Here,how ever, I will give a gen eral set of ‘rules’ which can be uni ver sally ap plied to thetheme of ‘sac ri fice & ini tia tive’:

– tak ing over the ini tia tive of ten means you have to ig nore your op po nent’s threat– when your op po nent poses a threat, try to find a way to ig nore it– an op po nent’s threat can be ig nored by pos ing a higher-de gree threat of your

own– to get to your op po nent’s king in the cen tre or a cas tled king, you need open files

and di ag o nals, and you should of ten be ready to sac ri fice to achieve this– re mov ing the pawn defences in front of the en emy king is of ten es sen tial, and

fre quently the only way to achieve this is with a piece sac ri fice– in many cases an es sen tial piece in the at tack (in or der to weave a mat ing net) is

the knight!– a king chase is of ten dif fi cult to cal cu late ac cu rately un til the end, but it mostly

works for the at tack ing side– as sess ing the ra tio of ‘at tack ers vs de fend ers’ (i.e., the forces in the at tack as op -

posed to the forces in the de fence) is al ways a good way to get an idea if ‘some -thing can work’

– never re cap ture a piece im me di ately with out think ing, un less it is ab so lutelyforced, as al ter na tives may of fer sur pris ing tac tics

– once you are on the at tack, never look back!– once you are on the at tack, do not think about the de sired re sult – look for moves

in stead! Think ing about the re sult dur ing the game puts a ‘men tal brake’ on theat tacker

– once you are swim ming in the stream of the ‘sac ri fic ing river’ – swim! Do notlook for a life boat. The best at tack ing ideas take an ef fort and they take cour age!

Writ ing this book has also helped me un der stand some of the great play ers better.Mikhail Tal’s sac ri fices have a rep u ta tion that there was a sig nif i cant amount of

bluff in volved, and be fore I started work ing on this book and had a se ri ous look athis sac ri fices, I was in clined to con cur to this gen eral opin ion.

But noth ing could be fur ther from the truth! Even if you give them enough timeto run, com puter en gines are not able to re fute 90% of Tal’s sac ri fices. There is al -ways com pen sa tion even against the very best de fence, and most of the time it isenough for at least a draw.

Of course, I do not know, and I will never find out, how much of those pos si bil i -ties Tal ac tu ally saw and how much of it was his ‘in tu ition’ (please see in the chap -ter on ‘In tu itive Sac ri fices’ my opin ion on this sub ject). But I’m sure he saw a lot!Tal was an at tack ing devil, a nine-headed mon ster, a true Houdini. Not that crap webuy for 80 eu ros and in stall on our com put ers – Tal was the real deal. He could hide an el e phant!

Da vid Bronstein had many orig i nal ideas, but in gen u ine at tack ing play, at tack ing ge niuses like Tal and Spassky were head and prob a bly also shoul ders above him.

Sac ri f ice and Ini t ia t ive in Chess

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There are also things I al ready knew that were con firmed by my work on this book:

– the in volve ment of com puter en gines has killed part of Kasparov’s at tack ing ge -nius

– Spassky was a bril liant at tacker, and ev ery chess player is well ad vised to study his games

– from the mod ern elite, the player who is the most in clined to take off on theslip pery road of an in tu itive sac ri fice is prob a bly Aronian.

Through out the book I have high lighted im por tant tips with ital ics. These tips arere peated at the end of each chap ter, so they will be eas ier to mem o rize.

I hope that af ter read ing this book, the reader will im prove his at tack ing skills andrec og nize at tack ing pat terns more eas ily.

I also hope that the reader will en joy play ing through the se lected games, asmuch as I have en joyed ana lys ing them!

13 June 2013Ivan Sokolov

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Chap ter 6

De vel op ing the At tackA nec es sary re quire ment for an at tack on a cer tain part of the board is to have morepieces work ing on that part of the board (the at tack ers vs de fend ers ra tio). So try todi rect your pieces to the side on which you want to at tack. Just one piece work ingon its own can not achieve much, nei ther in the at tack nor in the de fence.

In the fol low ing, quite re cent game wefind a beau ti ful ex am ple of a seam lessde vel op ment of an at tack on thekingside, even tu ally re sult ing in a mat -ing net around the king in the centre.Carlsen ad vances his kingside pawnsand grabs space. White’s seem inglyopen king is very safe since Carlsen hasmore space, his pieces are better co or -di nated and through out the game hekeeps a highly fa vour able at tack ers vsde fend ers ra tio on the kingside.The game is con cluded with a nice mat -ing net. The ease of Carlsen’s play is im -pres sive!

Game 30SI 32.8 (B32)Carlsen,MagnusNakamura,HikaruWijk aan Zee 2013 (12)

1.e4 c5 2.Àf3 Àc6 3.d4 cxd44.Àxd4 e5 5.Àb5 d6 6.g3 h57.À1c3 a6 8.Àa3 b5 9.Àd5Àge7 10.Ãg2 Ãg4 11.f3 Ãe612.c3 h4

I have in cluded this game be cause ofthe ease with which Carlsen de vel opshis at tack and con cludes the game. Atleast I was very im pressed watch ing itlive, pass ing by their ta ble and feel ingCarlsen’s ease play ing a seem ingly verycom pli cated po si tion.

T_.dMl.t_._.sJj.J_SjL_.__J_Nj._.._._I_.jn.i._Ii.Ii._._Bir.bQk._R

T_.dMl.t_._.sJj.J_SjL_.__J_Nj._.._._I_.jn.i._Ii.Ii._._Bir.bQk._R

With his h- pawn push Nakamura is try -ing to cre ate counterplay on the king -side, and also to pro voke a re ac tion byWhite. Carlsen con tin ues his de vel op -ment un dis turbed.

13.Àc2! Ãxd5It tran spires that the push to h3 is notgo ing to bring Black any of the de siredcounterplay: af ter 13...h3 14.Ãf1White’s bishop is ac tu ally good on thef1- a6 di ag o nal, es pe cially in con nec tion with a later pawn push a2-a4:14...Ãxd5 15.exd5 Àa5 16.Àe3 g617.a4 and White is better.

14.exd5 Àa5This knight will prove mis placed on a5and will stay on the edge of the boardfor a long time. Carlsen, be ing vir tu allya piece up on the kingside, senses themo ment to start ac tion there!

15.f4! Àf5

Sac ri f ice and Ini t ia t ive in Chess

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T_.dMl.t_._._Jj.J_.j._._sJ_IjS_.._._.i.j_.i._.i.IiN_._Bir.bQk._R

T_.dMl.t_._._Jj.J_.j._._sJ_IjS_.._._.i.j_.i._.i.IiN_._Bir.bQk._R

With vir tu ally an ex tra piece on thekingside, Carlsen feels com fort able tocon tinue his ac tion there. I will re peatonce more the ne ces sity to as sess the ra -tio of po ten tial at tack ers vs de fend erson the part of the board you are plan -ning to start your ac tion! If you start your ac tion on a side of the board where you arevir tu ally a piece up, feel com fort able about it,be cause as a rule of thumb it mostly works –in 90% of the cases!

16.g4! h3 17.Ãe4 Àh417...©h4+ is just one empty check,since Black has no pieces on the king -side to help his queen: 18.®f1 Àh619.Õg1. White is better and Black al -ready has to start wor ry ing about hisqueen get ting trapped.

T_.dMl.t_._._Jj.J_.j._._sJ_Ij._.._._BiIs_.i._._JIiN_._.ir.bQk._R

T_.dMl.t_._._Jj.J_.j._._sJ_Ij._.._._BiIs_.i._._JIiN_._.ir.bQk._R

18.0-0!Again good judge ment by Carlsen! I re -mem ber that when I was pass ing byand look ing at this par tic u lar po si tion, I won dered whether White’s seem ingly

open king’s po si tion might of fer Blackat tack ing chances. Ac tu ally, due to theab sence of Black’s light-squared bishopand be cause he does not have enoughpieces on the kingside, White’s kingwill be per fectly safe on h1.

18...g6 19.®h1 Ãg7 20.f5! gxf521.gxf5

21.Ãxf5, play ing for light-square con -trol, was also pos si ble.

21...Àg2?!This knight will be a lone sol dierstranded in the en emy camp – but more of a pris oner than an at tacker. For better or worse, 21...Ãf6, stop pingthe ad vance of White’s f- pawn, was theonly move.

22.f6! Ãf822...Ãxf6? was not pos si ble due to23.©f3 Àf4 (23...Õh4 loses ma te rialdue to 24.Ãg5) 24.Ãxf4 exf4 25.©xf4 Õh4 (or 25...©e7 26.©xf6! ©xe4+27.Õf3) 26.©f5 ©e7 27.Õae1 Ãe528.Àd4 and with his king stuck in thecen tre and his pieces un co or di nated,Black’s po si tion would quickly collapse.

23.©f3

T_.dMl.t_._._J_.J_.j.i._sJ_Ij._.._._B_.__.i._Q_JIiN_._Sir.b._R_K

T_.dMl.t_._._J_.J_.j.i._sJ_Ij._.._._B_.__.i._Q_JIiN_._Sir.b._R_K

It is in ter est ing to take stock now. Blackhas his two knights (on a5 and g2) dis -con nected from the rest of his forcesand out of play, while the rest of hisforces (©d8, Ãf8, Õa8, Õh8) are allstill at their start ing squares! This po si -

Chap ter 6 - De vel op ing the At tack

61

tion more re sem bles a game from a si -mul ta neous dis play than a top game inthe A-group of the Tata Steel chess tour -na ment! And the ease with whichCarlsen got to this po si tion is re mark -able. Magnus now ex e cutes di rectly,pre cisely and bru tally.

23...©c7 24.Àb4!Black’s knight will even tu ally movefrom a5 – which means the whiteknight will jump to c6!

24...Àb7 25.Àc6 Àc5 26.Ãf5!Àd7

Black’s knight con tin ues on a sense lessjour ney, how ever he has no moves here, and the only other op tion was to re sign.

27.Ãg5 Õg8 28.©h5 Àb629.Ãe6!

Black can not move a sin gle piece, while 30.Àe7 fol lowed by 31.©xf7 is adeadly threat.

29...Õxg5Or 29...Àf4 30.Õxf4 exf4 31.Õe1.

30.©xg5 fxe6 31.dxe6! 1-0

T_._Ml.__.d._._.JsNjIi.__J_.j.q.._._._.__.i._._JIi._._Sir._._R_K

T_._Ml.__.d._._.JsNjIi.__J_.j.q.._._._.__.i._._JIi._._Sir._._R_K

A nice fi nal pic ture.

Game 31RL 26.3 (C92)Fischer,Rob ertStein,LeonidSousse Interzonal 1967 (7)

1.e4 e5 2.Àf3 Àc6 3.Ãb5 a64.Ãa4 Àf6 5.0-0 Ãe7 6.Õe1 b57.Ãb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Ãb7

10.d4 Àa5 11.Ãc2 Àc4 12.b3Àb6 13.Àbd2 Àbd7 14.b4 exd415.cxd4 a5 16.bxa5 c5 17.e5!dxe5 18.dxe5 Àd5 19.Àe4 Àb420.Ãb1 Õxa5

._.d.tM__L_SlJjJ._._._._tJj.i._..s._N_.__._._N_II_._.iI_rBbQr.k.

._.d.tM__L_SlJjJ._._._._tJj.i._..s._N_.__._._N_II_._.iI_rBbQr.k.

This is a fa mous game of the 11thWorld Cham pion from the interzonaltour na ment, where he started so con -vinc ingly but would never fin ish, leav -ing the event when he had a huge lead.We will look at the way Fischer de vel -ops his kingside at tack here. It is in -struc tive be cause it is a stan dard type attack which may arise in the middle -game from dif fer ent open ing lines.

21.©e2It is clear that White’s chances lie on thekingside. He is go ing to at tack there with all of his well-co or di nated pieces, apartfrom his Õa1. Black’s de fend ers on thekingside are likely to be out num bered,which is a good sign for the at tack ingside. Fischer was not in ter ested in asmall ad van tage of the type White getsaf ter 21.Àfg5 Ãxe4 22.Ãxe4 Ãxg523.Ãxg5 ©xg5 24.©xd7.

21...Àb6 22.Àfg5This forces Black to part with his light- squared bishop.

22...Ãxe4 23.©xe4 g6 24.©h4!Forc ing Black to fur ther weaken hisking side, thus cre at ing sac ri fi cial mo tifs.

24...h5 25.©g3

Sac ri f ice and Ini t ia t ive in Chess

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Chap ter 12

The Sac ri fice for De vel op mentA ‘sac ri fice for de vel op ment’ occurs per def i ni tion in the open ing and is of ten seenin prac tice. This type of sac ri fice is de signed to gain time, in or der to get ahead inde vel op ment, re sult ing in an ini tia tive and/or an attack.

A sub-theme mostly con nected to the sac ri fice for de vel op ment is an at tack on aking in the cen tre.

The ma te rial that is sac ri ficed for de vel op ment is mostly one or more pawns.Some times, more se ri ous ma te rial in vest ments, e.g. of a piece, are con sid ered, likein the games Spassky-Mikenas and Fedorov-Ad ams ex am ined in this chapter.

Given the fact that the sac ri ficed ma te rial is mostly one or more pawns, the sac ri fice for de vel op ment has for many years been an in tu itive type of sac ri fice, where theat tacker rea sons: I have de vel op ment, I have ini tia tive and I am not sac ri fic ing thatmuch ma te rial. How ever, the rapid de vel op ment of chess the ory and the in creaseddepth of open ing prep a ra tion is hav ing in flu ence on this type of sac ri fice. In re centyears, sac ri fices for de vel op ment are con sid er ably more of ten the re sult of thor -ough, com puter-checked open ing prep a ra tion rather than a spon ta ne ous over- the- board de ci sion to shed ma te rial for the sake of quick de vel op ment.

In this game Tal uses a sac ri fice for de -vel op ment that has be come stan dardin the Si cil ian – bear in mind, how ever, that this game was played in 1966 andmuch less the ory and open ing ideaswere known at the time. For the sac ri -ficed pawn, White keeps Black’s kingin the cen tre and com bined withWhite’s pres sure along the d-file, thisde cides.

Game 69SI 41.12 (B43)Tal,MikhailHamann,SvendKislovodsk 1966 (10)

1.e4 c5 2.Àf3 e6 3.d4 cxd44.Àxd4 a6 5.Àc3 ©c7 6.Ãe2Àf6 7.0-0 Ãb4

With his last move, Black wants to col -lect a pawn, ei ther on c3 or on e4. Talopts for a stan dard Si cil ian idea, sac ri -fic ing a pawn and aim ing for quick development.

8.Ãg5! Ãxc3 9.Ãxf6 gxf610.bxc3 ©xc3

TsL_M_.t_J_J_J_JJ_._Jj.__._._._.._.nI_.__.d._._.I_I_BiIir._Q_Rk.

TsL_M_.t_J_J_J_JJ_._Jj.__._._._.._.nI_.__.d._._.I_I_BiIir._Q_Rk.

180

Let’s take stock. Black has won a pawn,but apart from his queen, all his piecesare on their ini tial squares, his kingsidepawn struc ture is al ready dam aged andhis king is in the cen tre. White hascom pleted his de vel op ment, his piecesare ready for ac tion. Com mon knowl -edge and logic tells us that Whiteshould have good com pen sa tion for the pawn.

11.Õb1!White de vel ops his rook to the b-fileand also pre pares the stan dard rook liftto b3.

11...Àc6 12.Àxc6Black now faces a dif fi cult choice – how to re cap ture?

12...dxc6?!Af ter this re cap ture, White will quicklybuild up pres sure on the d-file and getsa dev as tat ing at tack on Black’s king inthe cen tre. Af ter the other cap tures,White cer tainly has com pen sa tion, butmat ters look less dra matic for Black: A) 12...©xc6 13.©d4 in tend ing14.Õb6; B) Or 12...bxc6 13.Õb3 ©c514.©d2, when Black’s main prob lem isthat it is dif fi cult to de velop and solvethe prob lem of his king in the cen tre.

13.Õb3 ©c5 14.©d2

T_L_M_.t_J_._J_JJ_J_Jj.__.d._._.._._I_.__R_._._.I_IqBiIi_._._Rk.

T_L_M_.t_J_._J_JJ_J_Jj.__.d._._.._._I_.__R_._._.I_IqBiIi_._._Rk.

White now ex e cutes a clas sic type of attack, com bin ing his d-file pres sure

with mo tifs along the h5-e8 and h4-d8di ag o nals. Black is not able to con necthis rooks and solve the prob lem of hisking.

14...h5Black in deed wants to elim i nate themo tifs along the h5-e8 di ag o nal by pre -vent ing the white bishop from com ingto h5, and also wants to pre vent thewhite queen from com ing to h6. How -ever, he falls far be hind in de vel op mentand the pres sure on the d-file, com -bined with mo tifs on the h4-d8 diagonal, now decides.How ever, Black did not re ally have anygood moves here. I will give some linesto show White’s at tack ing mo tifs:14...e5 15.Õd1 ©e7 16.©h6! Ãe617.Õbd3.

T_._M_.t_J_.dJ_JJ_J_Lj.q_._.j._.._._I_.__._R_._.I_I_BiIi_._R_.k.

T_._M_.t_J_.dJ_JJ_J_Lj.q_._.j._.._._I_.__._R_._.I_I_BiIi_._R_.k.

anal y sis di a gram

White will now col lect the h7-pawnand also ex change the strong de fenderon e6. Black can not con nect his rooksand is un able to de fend or cre ate coun -ter play here. A) 17...Õg8 (oth er wise White plays18.©g7 and fol lows up with Ãg4,trad ing off the de fender on e6) 18.Ãh5 Ãxa2 19.©xh7 Õf8 20.Ãg4 Ãe621.Ãxe6 ©xe6 (21...fxe6 falls un der adeadly pin af ter 22.©h6 Õf7 23.©h5)22.Õd6 ©e7 and now the d-file de -cides: 23.©h3 with 24.©d3, 25.Õd7,

Chap ter 12 - The Sac ri f ice for De ve l op ment

181

and 26.Õd8 to fol low – in gen eral,Black is not able to de fend here againstWhite’s pro saic and sim ple build-up ofthreats on the d-file; B) 17...Ãxa2 loses to 18.Ãg4 Ãe619.Ãxe6 ©xe6 20.©d2! (the mat ingthreats on the d-file force Black’s cen -tered king to flee to the kingside, but itwill get mated there) 20...®f821.©b4+ ®g7 (or 21...®e822.©xb7) 22.Õg3+ ®h6 23.©d2+.

15.Õd1 ®e7

T_L_._.t_J_.mJ_.J_J_Jj.__.d._._J._._I_.__R_._._.I_IqBiIi_._R_.k.

T_L_._.t_J_.mJ_.J_J_Jj.__.d._._J._._I_.__R_._._.I_IqBiIi_._R_.k.

16.Õd3?A rare in stance of Tal miss ing an ac cu rate ex e cu tion. 16.Õc3!, forc ing the blackqueen to the e5-square and pre vent ingthe de vel op ing move ...e6-e5, was win -ning in stantly: 16...©e5 and now thed-file de cides: 17.Õd3, and 18.Õd8 can -not be stopped.

16...©b6?Black could have stayed in the gamewith 16...e5! fol lowed by 17...Ãe6,since in the event of 17.Õc3 he has17...©d4. Now the com bi na tion ofd-file pres sure and the h4-d8 di ag o nalis decisive:

17.e5! 1-0

In this game, sim i lar to the pre vi ousone, Tal sac ri fices a pawn in or der to get a de vel op ment ad van tage. Van der Wielac cepts Tal’s pawn sac ri fice, but lags in

de vel op ment and has his king stuck inthe mid dle of the board. As a re sult, asof ten happens after sac ri fices for de vel -op ment, Tal gets an at tack on the kingin the cen tre, which he ex e cutes ex cel -lently.

Game 70EO 60.7 (A17)Tal,MikhailVan der Wiel,JohnMos cow Interzonal 1982 (4)

1.c4 Àf6 2.Àc3 e6 3.Àf3 b64.e4 Ãb7 5.Ãd3 c5 6.0-0 Àc67.e5 Àg4 8.Ãe4 ©c8

T_D_Ml.tjL_J_JjJ.jS_J_.__.j.i._.._I_B_S__.n._N_.Ii.i.iIir.bQ_Rk.

T_D_Ml.tjL_J_JjJ.jS_J_.__.j.i._.._I_B_S__.n._N_.Ii.i.iIir.bQ_Rk.

9.d3!?White sac ri fices a pawn in or der tospeed up his de vel op ment. A non-sac ri -fi cial de vel op ing move was 9.Õe1.

9...Àgxe5Black was not obliged to ac cept the sac -ri fice and could have opted for 9...d6 or 9...f5.

10.Àxe5 Àxe5 11.f4 Àc6

T_D_Ml.tjL_J_JjJ.jS_J_.__.j._._.._I_Bi.__.nI_._.Ii._._Iir.bQ_Rk.

T_D_Ml.tjL_J_JjJ.jS_J_.__.j._._.._I_Bi.__.nI_._.Ii._._Iir.bQ_Rk.

Sac ri f ice and Ini t ia t ive in Chess

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